What a rating tells you about a Georgia roofer, and what it doesn't

What the rules say about reviews

The Federal Trade Commission's final rule on fake reviews, announced August 14, 2024, took effect on October 21, 2024. It bars businesses from:

• creating, buying or spreading fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, when they knew or should have known the reviews were fake;
• paying or rewarding customers for reviews that must express a particular sentiment, positive or negative;
• posting reviews by officers, managers or employees without clearly disclosing that connection;
• running a review website they control while presenting it as independent;
• using groundless legal threats, physical threats or intimidation to get negative reviews taken down;
• buying or selling fake social media followers or views.

The FTC can now seek civil penalties against knowing violators. The rule does not ban every incentive: according to the FTC's questions-and-answers page, a business may reward reviews as long as there is no express or implied requirement that they express a particular sentiment. Review platforms set their own limits too. Google's policy for Maps contributions prohibits reviews that were paid for, incentives for posting or removing reviews, and selectively soliciting positive reviews from customers.

How to read a roofer's rating critically

The FTC's advice on evaluating online reviews applies directly to roofers:

1. Consider the source. Ask what you know about the reviewer and the site hosting the review.
2. Check more than one place, including sites with impartial expert reviews.
3. Look at the dates. A burst of reviews over a short period can mean they are fake.
4. Read the reviewer's other reviews to judge how much weight theirs deserves.
5. Do not trust your eye alone. The FTC warns that you cannot reliably spot a fake just by looking, and that fake reviews are sometimes negative, posted to hurt a competitor.

Then read for substance. A review that describes a storm repair, an insurance claim or a leak call-back tells you more about a roofer than a line of praise. If you spot deceptive reviews, the FTC takes reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

What a rating cannot tell you: Georgia licensing

A high rating says nothing about licensing. The Attorney General's consumer guide to home improvement says residential and general contractors must be licensed through the State Licensing Board, but that specialty occupations such as roofers, painters and drywall contractors are not required to be licensed by the state.

The board's traditional specialty contractor list includes shingles and shakes, flat roofing and sheet metal roofing; those contractors need no residential or general contractor license but must follow all applicable codes. Georgia law defines a residential contractor by work worth more than $2,500 in the residential categories (O.C.G.A. § 43-41-2), and a specialty contractor may take on other, incidental work only up to the greater of $10,000 or 25 percent of the job (§ 43-41-17). If your project reaches beyond the roof, look up the contractor's residential license in the Secretary of State's professional licensee search, and ask your city or county about local business licensing. More detail is on the directory's Georgia roofing licensing page.

On the National Roofing Directory itself, a Verified listing means a person has checked the company's phone, email, website, logo, services, rating, insurance and license.

Georgia's storm record

FEMA's major disaster declaration for Hurricane Helene, DR-4830, includes Fulton, Lowndes and Richmond counties. The National Hurricane Center's report says Helene came ashore in Florida's Big Bend as a category 4 hurricane, brought widespread rain totals of 5 to 10 inches across Georgia, and caused at least 250 deaths in the United States.

The storm record reaches well beyond Helene:

• Hurricane Michael's hurricane-force gusts reached as far inland as Albany in 2018, according to the NHC.
• Idalia weakened below hurricane strength over southern Georgia in 2023, about six hours after its Florida landfall, per its NHC report.
• An EF2 tornado crossed downtown Atlanta on March 14, 2008.
• Statewide, NOAA's Storm Events Database records 917 hail events of 1 inch or larger and 612 tornadoes from 2016 through 2025 (NCEI).

Local detail is on our Atlanta, Augusta and South Georgia pages, and the directory's Georgia storm center follows current alerts.

Roofers across Georgia

Here are roofing companies listed on the National Roofing Directory in Georgia's largest markets; you can browse more Georgia roofing contractors by city.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal for a roofer to buy reviews?

Buying reviews that must say something particular, or posting fake ones, is banned under the FTC's rule in effect since October 21, 2024. Offering a reward for an honest review is not banned by the rule itself, though platforms such as Google prohibit incentives for reviews.

Do roofers need a license in Georgia?

Not a state license for roofing alone. Georgia's Attorney General lists roofers among the specialty trades the state does not license, but a job that goes beyond roofing into residential contracting over $2,500 needs a licensed residential contractor.

How do I check a Georgia contractor's license?

Use the Secretary of State's professional licensee search, choosing an individual or a business and filling in at least two fields such as profession, license type, license number or name.

Can I trust a roofer with a perfect average?

A perfect average is not proof of anything by itself. Check how recent the reviews are, whether they arrived in a burst, and what the reviewers have written elsewhere, as the FTC suggests.